THE LONELIER HOURS 



The glories of summer nights are earth-born, and their lights 

 are warmer and nearer to us than the splendour of the winter 

 moon. All night at midsummer the colour of daylight 

 hardly fades out of the north if the sky is clear ; and on wet 

 or cloudy nights the dusk is full of earth's perfumes, and 

 obscurely lit with flowers still gleaming in the unreal dark- 

 ness. There is seldom a really dark night in June or the 

 first half of July; the sun's path still creeps so near the 

 horizon that light is reflected from all light objects, and 

 even from the upper clouds. The earth on a June night 

 seems plunged in a conscious rest more refreshing than 

 sleep ; its spirit seems etherealised rather than sunk in 

 torpor. Cries of half wakeful birds continually suggest how 

 light is the veil of unconsciousness ; most creatures hibernate 

 in some degree like dormice or bears, and expend in summer 

 wakefulness the energy they accumulate in long winter 

 sleep. The summer twilight of England is one of the 

 happiest features of its geographical position. The soft 

 veil of the June night is a more exquisite gift of nature 

 than the positive daylight prolonged by the midnight sun. 



Sheer daylight prevails in the June nights even in 

 England ; we can watch the cool grey stain contending with 

 the stars of the north. In July as the nights grow a little 



